Culiverter

Culiverter

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Hang on - first things first. it appears I have been remiss in my accreditation of Peter the Greek. You may recognise the formation of my plating below as reminiscent of a certain, recent Kalofagas post. And indeed it is. But I was so excited, I forgot to write it up ;) Peter, my humblest apologies... ;)

I'm leaving good old Blighty just in time for the cold(er!) season, and going off on a mighty, foodie traveling adventure, all by myself!

It's been on the cards for a while, but I didn't want to post about it until I had spoken to my work. I have just had 'the chat' with them today - so now the countdown begins! This is the news I was being mysterious about in an earlier post, and is the reason why I have leased out my flat... It's a good un, huh?!

So anyway, I don't have tickets booked yet, but I will be flying to Bangkok sometime later than a month from now, but hopefully before Christmas. I'm then going to travel around SE Asia overland for a few months - meeting up with a couple of friends on Ko Pha Nang for the Full Moon Party.

Then to recover from the excesses we'll be taking a diving course - new to me! Other than that I'm going to visit Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Plus anywhere else that takes my fancy - probably Sri Lanka, and just maybe a trip to China to visit another friend.

And I'm taking a week to nip over to the Maldives to celebrate a friend's wedding (I'm bridesmaid!). Imagine a week of five star luxury (not to mention the free cocktails!!) after all that back-packing! :D

After that I plan to spend some time in Australia, then maybe a month in India on the way home.

Did I mention that I've been researching cookery schools? Because that's one of my main reasons for going! The food. Cooking and eating. Eating and cooking. And smelling. Then maybe a bit more eating. Just imagine... nom nom nom...

I'd love to meet up with any fellow bloggers out in those neck of the woods - and any recommendations for things to do, see, eat or cook will be most welcome! I've only allowed myself to plan loosely as I want to have freedom to make my decisions when I'm there.

Right, I'll turn the envy generator off now. (No, not really, I'm still grinning like a loon!)

But I wouldn't make you green, and leave you without even a taste of food, so have a delicious plate of...

Prosciutto Wrapped Sole with Roast Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Serves 2

1 large dover sole, skinned and filleted (i.e. 4 fillets)

1 medium onion

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

125ml white wine

4 slices prosciutto

2 cloves roast garlic

Floury potatoes, boiled in salted water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne

Juice of half a lemon

knob of butter

A shot of cream or milk

Sugar, Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 150c.

Prepare the Base...Take a baking dish just big enough to take all the tomatoes in one layer, and drizzle in some olive oil. Cut the onion into 8 wedges, and lay in tray. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.

Pop in the oven for 20 minutes until soft and sweet.

Wash the cherry tomatoes, add to the onions and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Turn up the heat to 175c, throw in the glass of wine, chuck it back in the oven and set about making your fillet rolls.

Prepare the Fish...Mix the olive oil with the lemon juice, paprika, cayenne, and a twist of sea salt if you fancy.

Take one fillet of sole, brush with the oil mix, and roll into a twist. Take a slice of prosciutto and wrap it round the fish, making a little skirt. Repeat with all the fillets. Brush the top of the fish with any excess oil mixture.

Get the oven dish out again, and sit the fish on top of the tomatoes. Bake for 20 minutes, or until done.

Make the Mash...Make the roast garlic mash, by ricing the the potatoes and mixing in the butter, milk or cream and cloves of roast garlic. Make sure you mush up the garlic first - otherwise someone's going to get a garlicky shock... Hey, now there's a party game - mashed potato roulette... with garlic, chillies and chocolate!

Finish the Dish...Move the fish to rest, and stir up the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning as required - you may want to add a bit of sugar if the tomatoes are sharp.

Serve!Serve with green beans, a wide grin, and a smug air!

* Apologies to my Twitter buddies - maybe I should have written this before I tweeted the news?! ;)

Yup, you tilted out the envy meter :) Your soon to be trips totally take the cake over mine and everyone elses. Thinking about all the good sights and smells just makes me smile :) Best of luck, and make sure to let us know when you're going.

So, I dropped by to let you know about the new Cook the Books blog Johanna the Food Junkie designed for our foodie book club (http://cookthebooksclub.wordpress.com/) to remind you to read "La Cucina" by Lily Prior, but I find that I blown away by your exciting announcement. What an adventure. I wish you best of luck, best of health, best of times! But who's taking care of the kittens?

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